Meeker argues against North Hills tax breaks

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker today laid out his argument against offering tax breaks for the planned commercial development North Hills East.

Developer John Kane wants $75 million in public money to build parking decks for North Hills East, a project planned for 45 acres across Six Forks Road from the existing North Hills shopping center.

In a presentation to county commissioners and a number of media interviews, Kane has said the public financing, which would be repaid with future tax revenue from the project, would allow him to build a high-density, mixed-use project instead of the usual sprawling strip mall.

But Meeker said in a memo to city council members dated today that commercial development is already strong in the North Hills area, making the incentives unnecessary.

"It is not good public policy to provide subsidies in development in areas of our City where development is already occurring," Meeker said in the memo.

The proposal, which would exempt the project from 75 percent of its local taxes for the first 20 years, has earned the unanimous support of Wake County commissioners.

Meeker questioned Kane's estimate of how much larger the future tax base of a development at that site would be with public financing, and suggested that the refunding of taxes in the plan might violate state law.

Meeker noted in the memo that the project had not been formally proposed to the Raleigh City Council. But, he said, he decided to weigh in since the project is being promoted and has been discussed widely in the media.

"Since this matter is being discussed publicly," Meeker wrote, "let me summarize the major reasons why I believe this proposal does not make sense for the citizens of Raleigh."